About

Long Term, Long Distance, Low Commitment, Casual Girlfriend is a quote uttered by the character Ken (played by Ryan Gosling) from the Barbie movie that became a catchphrase online after the release of the film in July 2023. The quote was often shared as self-deprecation by women who felt they'd been in a similar romantic situation or as a way to express affection for a fictional character.

Origin

In a scene in the 2023 Barbie movie, Ken proposes that Barbie become his "long-term long-distance low-commitment casual girlfriend." The line resonated with viewers of the film, and it first appeared online on July 20th, 2023.^[1] However, it began going viral on July 22nd, 2023, the day after the film's premiere in theaters. That day, Twitter user @megancoyne23^[2] posted a Euphoria meme about how she found the line relatable, gaining over 9,600 retweets and 113,000 likes in four days (shown below).

Spread

Over the following days, the catchphrase spread on Twitter in a variety of ways. Minutes after megancoyne23's post on July 22nd, 2023, Twitter user @bandarmoment^[3] joked that a one-sided relationship could be called the phrase, gaining over 16,000 retweets and 90,000 likes in four days (shown below, left). The same day, user @mujhemaardo^[4] posted, "need to be someone’s long term long distance low commitment casual girlfriend," gaining over 600 retweets and 3,700 likes in four days (shown below, right).

The term also spread on TikTok where users also expressed that they felt the line relatable to their lived experiences. For example, on July 25th, TikToker gpfavi posted one such example, gaining over 90,000 likes in a day (shown below, left). The same day, user @floooooooooooooo0oo posted a similar TikTok, gaining over 93,000 likes in a similar timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References